T  D 


GIFT   OF 
STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA 


SPECIAL  MESSAGE 

OP 

GOVERNOR  GEORGE  STONEMAN 


TRANSMITTING  THE 


REPORT  OF  THE  STATE  ENGINEER 


ON  THE  SEWERAGE  OP  THE 


DEAF,  DUMB,  AND  BLIND  ASYLUM  AND  THE  STATE  UNIVERSITY, 

MADE  IN  COMPLIANCE  WITH  SENATE  CONCURRENT  RESOLUTION  No.  7. 


TWENTY-FIFTH    SESSION,    1883. 


SPECIAL  MESSAGE. 


STATE  OF  CALIFORNIA,  EXECUTIVE  DEPARTMENT,     ) 
SACRAMENTO,  CAL.,  February  1,  1883.  j 

To  the  Honorable  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  California  : 

I  herewith  transmit  to  your  honorable  bodies  a  report  of  the  State 
Engineer  on  a  plan  for  the  sewerage  of  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind 
Asylum  and  the  State  University,  made  in  accordance  with  Senate 
Concurrent  Resolution  No.  7. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  I  call  your  attention  to  the  follow- 
ing facts  and  make  some  suggestions  which  seem  fitting: 

The  water  supply,  sewerage,  ventilation,  and  heating  of  the  build- 
ings of  public  institutions — such  as  the  Insane  Asylums,  the  Prisons, 
the  Blind  Asylum,  the  University,  the  Normal  Schools,  and  the 
Capitol  Building— the  water  supply,  drainage,  and  general  improve- 
ment of  the  grounds  about  the  buildings  of  these  institutions,  and 
the  general  improvement  of  the  Yosemite  Valley,  are  all  subjects 
calling  for  engineering  consideration,  and  treatment,  on  which  the 
Legislature  is  asked  to  act  in  some  way  at  each  session,  concerning 
which  the  Governor,  as  ex  officio  member  of  most  of  the  Boards  of 
control,  is  continually  called  upon  to  pass  judgment  and  act,  and  on 
which  many  thousands  of  dollars  of  the  State's  money  are  yet  to  be 
expended. 

The  engineering  duty  in  connection  with  such  works  should  be 
performed  by  the  State  Engineer,  and  that  officer  should  intimately 
familiarize  himself  with  the  wants  of  the  public  institutions  in  these 
respects,  so  that  the  Governor  may  at  any  time  be  promptly  and  fully 
advised  on  subjects  concerning  which  he  has  to  act  as  ex  officio 
member  of  the  several  Boards  of  control,  and  so  that  the  Legislature 
may  have  at  command,  so  far  as  plans  and  estimates  are  concerned, 
in  the  State  Capitol  building,  all  the  information  necessary  upon 
which  to  decide  the  questions  which  are  brought  to  its  notice  each 
session;  and,  finally,  so  that  the  various  Boards  of  control  of  the 
public  institutions  mentioned  may  be  well  advised  on  engineering 
subjects  without  the  expense  of  employing  civil  engineers  for  the 
purpose. 

I  shall  hereafter  avail  myself  of  the  services  of  the  State  Engineer 
to  collect  the  information  referred  to,  for  my  own  guidance,  and  in 
order  that  the  Legislature  may  be  informed  when  it  meets  again. 

iEORGE  STONEMAN, 

Governor. 


REPORT. 


OFFICE  OF  THE  STATE  ENGINEER, 

SACRAMENTO,  January  31, 1883.  j 

To  the  Honorable  Senate  and  Assembly  of  the  State  of  California  : 

In  compliance  with  your  concurrent  resolution  (Senate  No.  7),  I 
have  visited  the  site  of  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind  Asylum  and  of 
the  State  University  at  Berkeley,  with  the  view  of  making  a  perma- 
nent plan  for  the  disposition  of  the  sewage  of  these  institutions,  and 
now  beg  leave  to  submit  a  report  setting  forth  the  condition  of  things, 
in  this  regard,  as  I  have  found  them,  and  the  possibilities  in  the  case, 
drawing  your  attention  to  the  extent  of  work  which  your  resolution 
necessitates,  and  ask  further  instruction  before  incurring  additional 
expense  and  consuming  more  time. 

THE   SITUATION    AT   THE    DEAF,   DUMB,    AND   BLIND    ASYLUM. 

The  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind  Asylum  comprises  six  brick  structures, 
grouped  upon  the  steep,  sloping  plain  close  against  the  base  of  the 
Alameda  hills,  at  a  distance  of  about  14,700  feet  from  the  bay  shore. 

These  buildings  are  disposed  according  to  a  set  plan,  upon  a  plat 
somewhat  less  than  rive  hundred  feet  square. 

They  have  all  been  built  within  the  past  seven  years,  and  the  sub- 
ject of  the  removal  of  sewage  matter,  waste,  and  drainage  waters  from 
them  appears  to  have,  been  closely  and  intelligently  studied,  for  I 
find  an  admirable  system  for  house  drainage  incorporated  into  the 
plans,  and  works  for  this  purpose  apparently  well  executed  in  each 
structure. 

The  ideas  embodied  in  this  system  are  the  most  modern,  and  those 
now  generally  approved  by  sanitary  engineers  of  advanced  ideas. 

The  works,  I  believe,  will  insure  the  prompt  removal  of  all  refuse 
matter  from  the  buildings,  and  will  keep  these  structures  well  venti- 
lated and  free  from  the  noxious  effects  so  very  commonly  encountered 
from  bad  house  drainage,  even  in  most  pretentious  modern  structures. 

After  removal  from  the  buildings,  the  sewage  and  drainage  matter 
is  conducted  in  glazed  stoneware  pipes  from  each  building  to  a  main 
pipe  which  conducts  the  whole,  westward,  down  the  slope,  and  along 
it,  southerly,  a  distance  of  about  eight  hundred  feet  from  the  central 
building  to  the  southeast  corner  of  the  tract  belonging  to  the  institu- 
tion, and  there  it  is  used  in  irrigation. 

The  amount  of  water  used  per  day  in  the  buildings  of  the  institu- 
tion is  about  20,000  gallons.  This  is  approximately  the  measure  of 
the  ordinary  volume  of  sewage  and  drainage  matter,  and  it  is  dis- 
posed upon  an  acre  of  land  through  ditches  about  five  feet  apart, 


allowed  to  soak  away  into  the  cultivated  soil,  or  plowed  under  from 
time  to  time. 

This  system  of  disposing  of  the  sewage  matter  is  undoubtedly  the 
best  which,  under  the  circumstances,  could  have  been  adopted,  as 
has  been  proven  by  general  experience  in  such  matters  in  older 
countries,  where  the  subject  has  been  closely  studied  and  experi- 
mented upon. 

But  now  after  years  of  use  the  soil  of  this  irrigated  tract  has  become 
thoroughly  charged  with  sewage;  it  has  lost  in  a  great  -measure  its 
power  of  purifying  the  fresh  matter  brought  to  it. 

The  property  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  is  being  occupied, 
and  a  progressive  and  enlightened  population  is  gathering  in. 

While  at  some  point  remote  from  habitations,  this  system  of  dis- 
posing of  the  sewage  matter  might  well  be  carried  on  by  taking  new 
lands  for  the  purpose  from  time  to  time,  for  an  indefinite  period  in 
the  future,  it  is  no  longer  permissible  in  this  neighborhood. 

The  effects  in  the  Fall  of  the  year,  I  am  told — and  I  can  readily 
understand  that  such  is  the  fact — are  most  disagreeable  and  unhealth- 
ful  to  the  occupants  of  the  institution,  and  to  residents  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. 

The  State  is  virtually  maintaining  a  nuisance  at  this  place,  but  not 
by  or  through  any  fault  or  omission  of  those  having  it  in  charge. 

THE   SITUATION   AT   THE   UNIVERSITY. 

The  State  University  comprises  four  main  structures,  situated  upon 
a  flat  spur  from  the  Alameda  hills  at  the  commencement  of  the  steep 
sloping  plains  towards  the  bay,  at  a  point  about  four  thousand  feet 
northwest  from  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind  Asylum,  and  twelve  thou- 
and  seven  hundred  feet  in  a  straight  line  from  the  bay  shore. 

These  structures,  built  at  intervals  during  the  last  sixteen  years, 
have  been  provided  with  pipes  and  fixtures  for  the  removal  of  sew- 
sage,  offal,  and  drainage  waters,  after  a  very  defective  system. 

The  fixtures  as  a  general  thing  are  by  no  means  of  the  most  effi- 
cient types,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  pipes  is  not  such  as  to  pro- 
mote their  proper  ventilation  and  prevent  the  injection  of  sewer  gases 
into  the  buildings. 

Thus  removed  from  the  structures,  the  sewage  and  drainage  matter 
is  conducted  into  three  cesspools,  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of 
the  buildings  themselves,  and  situated  at  distances  of  five  hundred 
to  seven  hundred  feet  from  each  other. 

The  cesspool  system  of  disposing  of  sewage  matter  is  one  generally 
condemned  by  all  students,  experimentalists,  and  practical  workers 
in  sanitary  science.  At  best  it  can  be  but  a  mere  temporary  makeshift. 
I  suppose'it  was  adopted  as  such  at  the  University,  and  now  the  time 
of  its  efficiency,  the  period  of  its  admissibleness,  has  passed.  The  cess- 
pools have  become  a  nuisance.  One  has  burst  and  disposes  its  matter 
through  the  adjacent  soil,  and  another  requires  constant  cleaning  to 
prevent  its  effects  from  being  unbearable  to  the  University  students 
and  faculty. 

In  addition  to  these  buildings  there  is  another,  the  gymnasium, 
which  is  drained  into  a  creek  immediately  south  of  the  flat  spur 
on  which  the  main  buildings  rest,  and  a  group  of  cottages  from  thir- 
teen hundred  to  two  thousand  feet  down  the  creek,  which  are  drained 
into  cesspools. 


The  immediate  neighborhood  of  these  structures  and  of  the  Uni- 
versity is  well  built  up  in  beautiful  homesteads,  on  the  south  side 
particularly,  stretching  away  to  the  grounds  of  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and 
Blind  Asylum. 

I  am  told  that  some  of  these  private  houses  are  drained  into  the 
little  creek  or  arroi/o  before  mentioned,  and  it  is  generally  conceded 
that  certain  unhealthfulness  of  the  neighborhood  in  the  fall  months, 
is  due  to  the  accumulation  of  foul  matter  in  this  arroyo  and  in  the 
cesspools  before  mentioned,  and  I  can  well  believe,  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  experience  elsewhere,  that  such  is  the  case. 

DISPOSITION   OF   THE   SEWAGE. 

The  sewage  matter  from  these  institutions  can  only  be  permanently 
disposed  of  by  conducting  it  to  the  bay  and  depositing  it  where  it 
will  be  swept  off  by  tidal  action. 

In  the  case  of  the  Deaf,  Dumb,  and  Blind  Asylum  all  else  has  been 
accomplished  except  the  provision  of  a  conduit  from  the  grounds  to 
the  bay  shore,  and  proper  outfall  works  at  that  point. 

In  the  case  of  the  University  the  sewage  will  have  to  be  collected 
by  branch  pipes  for  the  several  structures  and  brought  to  one  point 
for  discharge  into  a  main  pipe  to  be  carried  to  the  bay.  The  cess- 
pools will  have  to  be  thoroughly  cleaned  and  filled  up,  and  the  house 
drainage  works  in  the  buildings  should  be  remodeled  to  some  extent, 
at  least,  in  order  that  the  benefit  of  the  new  system  may  be  fully  felt 
in  them. 

If  the  State  were  going  to  provide  independent  works  for  the  dis- 
posal of  the  sewage  of  these  institutions,  as  here  suggested,  it  would 
take  about  twenty-two  thousand  linear  feet  of  glazed  earthenware 
drain  pipe,  varying  in  diameter  from  four  to  eight  inches,  which  laid, 
would  cost  about  twelve  thousand  dollars,  if  the  work  is  done  with 
only  a  small  margin  of  profit  to  a  contractor  on  it. 

It  would  cost  about  one  thousand  dollars  for  additional  outside 
work  in  the  removal  and  filling  of  cesspools,  and  arranging  connec- 
tions, etc. 

I  have  not  had  time  to  study  the  house  drainage  of  the  buildings 
at  the  University,  so  as  to  make  any  reliable  estimate  of  the  cost  of 
remodeling  it,  but  believe  two  thousand  dollars  would  be  the  least 
sum  from  the  expenditure  of  which  any  considerable  benefit  might 
be  expected  in  this  regard. 

THE   TOWN    OF    BERKELEY. 

The  neighborhood  in  which  these  institutions  are  situated, 
embracing  a  tract  about  eight  thousand  feet  in  width,  and  extending 
back  about  seventeen  thousand  feet  from  the  bay  shore,  is  organized 
as  a  town,  under  a  special  Act  of  Legislature,  has  its  system  of  town 

¥)vernment,   and  levies  taxes  for  municipal  purposes.      It  is  the 
own  of  Berkeley. 

The  sewerage  of  these  State  institutions  in  this  town,  so  far  as  the 
conduction  of  sewage  to  the  bay  is  concerned,  is  properly  a  part  of 
the  town  sanitary  works.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  the  State  could  act 
in  conjunction  with  the  town  authorities,  and  this  burden  were 
equitably  distributed,  the  State  would  save  a  material  portion  of  the 
twelve  thousand  dollars  estimated  for  the  main  conduit. 


It  is  only  by  a  close  study  of  tfre  sitTufatioli  Jha't  a'  definite  plan  and 
detail  of  cost  can  be  submitted  for  the  drainage  and  sewerage  of  this 
district,  and  I  respectfully  represent  that  this  would  take  a  month  of 
time  and  at  least  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred  dollars  expense  for 
surveys,  plans,  estimates,  etc. 

I  cannot  recommend  that  the  State  undertake  this  alone.  The 
town  authorities  should  contribute  towards  it.  I  am  told  that  these 
town  authorities  are  anxious  to  have  something  done  in  the  matter, 
and  will  doubtless  cooperate  with  the  State. 

Hence,  I  would  recommend  that  a  further  inquiry  be  made  as  to 
this  point,  that  knowledge  be  had  as  to  what  proportion  of  the  cost 
of  a  main  pipe  the  State  would  have  to  pay. 

The  Town  Council  are  to  have  a  meeting  next  week,  and  steps 
have  been  taken  to  communicate  and  negotiate  with  the  members  on 
the  subject. 

I  am,  with  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

WM.  HAM.  HALL, 

State  Engineer. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

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